Girl Friday (TV programme)
| Girl Friday | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Genre | Travel documentary |
| Directed by | Michael Houldey |
| Presented by | Joanna Lumley |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language | English |
| No. of episodes | 1 |
| Production | |
| Producer | Clive Tulloh |
| Running time | 60 minutes |
| Original release | |
| Network | BBC One |
| Release | 26 November 1994 |
Girl Friday is a 1994 BBC reality television special, starring Joanna Lumley in which she spends ten days on the desert island of Tsarabanjina near Madagascar.[1] Lumley wrote an accompanying book, also called Girl Friday, which was published by BBC Books.
The title is based on the idiom derived from Friday, a character in Robinson Crusoe.
Development[edit]
In late 1993, freelance television producer Clive Tulloh was commissioned to create a television special, with the description: "Joanna Lumley survives on a desert island."[2] According to Tulloh, he was briefed to produce something with "a touch of pre-Christmas escapism" that would "cheer people up on a dark winter's night."[2]
Lumley had previously appeared in a 1991 BBC travel documentary, In Search of the White Rajahs, in which she travelled to Malaysia to examine the story of the British rulers of the kingdom of Sarawak.[3]
One of the challenging tasks was finding the best location for the programme. It took three months before Tulloh settled on the Malagasy island of Tsarabanjina, off the northwest coast of Madagascar.[2] At the time of broadcast, the island was uninhabited, although it has since been partially developed into a luxury resort.[4][5] Some fishermen from a nearby island did regularly camp on Tsarabanjina, and were paid to vacate the island for the duration of filming. Securing use of the island also involved negotiations with nine government ministries, as well as local leaders.[2]
When the location was confirmed, a survival specialist was brought in to stay on the island, to assess the risks posed by the wildlife. Joanna Lumley completed a two-day survival course with the Irish Guards in preparation.[2]
Production[edit]
During the course of filming, the film unit was accommodated on a luxury ship, the SS Fantasy. The ship had round-the-clock security, as details of the location had been leaked in the tabloid press a few days prior to their arrival.[2]
Tulley had a 10-day shooting schedule for the programme. For the first few days, heavy rainfall affected the shoot, and on the third day, the film crew were completely prevented from landing on the island due to sea conditions. Crew members also began to suffer from trench foot, as did Lumley herself. On the eighth day, the weather changed dramatically, causing Lumley to collapse from the high temperatures. Tulley summarised the experience as a "mind-numbingly hard time."[2]
Broadcast[edit]
Girl Friday was first broadcast on BBC One on Saturday 26 November 1994, at 8.15pm. More recently, it has been repeated multiple times on BBC Four.[6]
Reception[edit]
Writing in The Times, Ros Drinkwater praised Lumley's role in the programme, stating: "Lumley carried the day, showing not only a fine talent for survival, but a nice line in inventiveness." Drinkwater highlighted the self-shot video segments, as giving "an interesting glimpse of the woman behind the glamorous image."[2] David Flusfeder found the programme "rather engaging", largely because of Lumley's role, describing her as "good company, in an Enid Blyton sort of way."[7] The Sunday Times reviewer A. A. Gill was less impressed, describing the show as "uneventful and most of the time plain dull."[8]
When the show was re-broadcast in 2008, Gabrielle Starkey gave it another positive review in The Times, writing that Lumley's "resourcefulness and cheer under trying circumstances came as something of a surprise, and made for must-see TV."[9]
The programme's initial success encouraged Clive Tulloh to produce further similar shows. In 1995, he created Billy Connolly: A Scot in the Arctic, in which the Scottish comedian Billy Connolly spent a week in the Arctic.[10] He also went on to work with Joanna Lumley on several other documentaries, including journeys to India, Japan and the Trans-Siberian Railway.[11]
.jpeg)
References[edit]
- ^ "Girl Friday". BBC. Retrieved 10 March 2022.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Drinkwater, Ros (22 November 1994). "Absolutely ghastly, sweetie". The Times.
- ^ Huddleston, Yvette (10 June 2016). "Celebrating absolutely fabulous documentaries". The i.
- ^ Odell, Michael (24 April 2023). "Depression and Ruby's desert island therapy". The Times.
- ^ Pippa de Bruyn (4 August 2017). "Constance Tsarabanjina Hotel Review, Madagascar". The Telegraph. London. Retrieved 10 March 2022.
- ^ "Girl Friday". BBC. Retrieved 15 May 2024.
- ^ Flusfeder, David (26 November 1994). "Game girl's straight bat". The Times.
- ^ Gill, A. A. (27 November 1994). "Stranded in no man's land". The Sunday Times.
- ^ Starkey, Gabrielle (14 June 2008). "Digital Choice". The Times.
- ^ Drinkwater, Ros (18 December 1995). "When Billy got windy". The Times.
- ^ Hutchinson, Charles (24 October 2018). "Joanna Lumley is all talk at York Barbican on Sunday in debut tour show". York Press.
